The news came after the Liverpool manager had already confirmed that captain Steven Gerrard would not travel with his team-mates to France on Tuesday morning for his team’s crucial Champions League tie with Lyon, after failing to recover from the groin injury which has ruled him out for two weeks.

“Gerrard has no chance [of playing],” the Liverpool manager said. “He is improving. He has had an injection, but we have to wait for two or three days to see how he reacts.”

A decision on whether Gerrard needs surgery for the problem, sustained on duty with England last month, is likely to be made by the end of the week.

Torres, who is travelling to Lyon, has been suffering from an inguinal hernia since the injury occurred on international duty with Spain last month.

But the 25 year-old, who played just an hour at Fulham on Saturday, may not be able to continue his restricted pattern of training and playing with the club’s medical staff raising the possibility of the Spaniard going under the knife, according to reports on Monday night.

Like Gerrard, Martin Kelly, Martin Skrtel, Nabil El Zhar and Albert Riera will not join the trip to the Stade Gerland, though the club are hopeful that half of the 10 players who missed the defeat at Craven Cottage will be ready.

Benítez will allow Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger, Fabio Aurelio and David Ngog time to prove their fitness for tomorrow’s game, while the club are “cautiously optimistic” that Alberto Aquilani, the £20?million summer signing, will have recovered from his virus to occupy a spot on the bench.

Johnson pulled a calf in training last week and was initially ruled out for “four or five days,” though the England international is a doubt. Of the others, only Agger, who twisted his troublesome back in training on Friday, is thought to have a good chance of featuring.

The prospect of a must-win game win without either of his key players, though, should help to make up the Spaniard’s mind.

One of the few first-team players who will be available to Benítez, Pepe Reina, has given his manager a welcome fillip by stating his intent to sign a new contract in the New Year and to remain at Anfield “for many years”.

“It’s already my fifth season here and that says it all, really,” the goalkeeper said. “I have some friends here and my wife and kids are happy.

“One of my daughters is a Scouser. I have every reason to stay and of course I will. Rafa Benítez is building something special here. When he came, the club was one thing, and now it’s something totally different. We have grown up and we can still grow up a little bit more.”

Liverpool have written to the Football Association asking for the red card shown to Philipp Degen at Craven Cottage to be overturned.

It is believed the club do not plan to appeal Jamie Carragher’s dismissal, despite the player insisting he played the ball first. Liverpool’s stand-in captain is due to serve a one-game ban for his last-man offence on Bobby Zamora.